First Flight
by Kalira69
Summary: Kagami's parents absolutely promised today they would take him flying, flying for real, all on his own, and he can't wait! (wingfic)


Written for MadaTobi Week, day 4: Any Alternate Universe

* * *

"Papa! Papa come on, _please_?"

Madara tucked the finished onigiri under a cover and reached up to pull the sticks from his hair, letting it fall down his back. He turned and headed out of the kitchen. "Yes, Kagami?" he asked as he passed into the main room, raising his eyebrows.

Kagami bounced - actually he was leaping high enough, his little wings fluttering hard, that he was held briefly airborne at the apex of each bounce - and looked at Madara with wide, pleading eyes. "Papa!" he dragged out the second syllable. "You promised!" he reminded, bouncing extra-high.

Madara absently eyed the lowest level of rafters above his small head, though he would have to actually get himself into the air properly to come anywhere near them.

"You _said_ if it was nice today, with no wind and no wet, that you would take me out _flying_!" Kagami reminded, wriggling with excitement. "And it _is_ it is! Right Dad?"

"It is." Tobirama confirmed, lips curling slightly, eyes warm. He glanced at Madara, arching a brow, as he crossed the room to Kagami, resting a hand on his shoulder and calming his outward movements at least somewhat. "Conserve your energy if you want to be able to fly today. . ." he advised.

Kagami's eyes widened further and he stiffened. "Yes Dad!" he said immediately, going unnaturally still. His feathers _quivered_ from the effort.

Madara had to stifle laughter. "Ease up, fledge." he said affectionately, moving towards them. "You'll hurt yourself trying that." He kissed the corner of Tobirama's smile, catching his husband's warm-eyed gaze. "Let's go." he said, a little more softly than he'd intended.

"Mm. Yes." Tobirama agreed, just as soft.

"_Yes!_" Kagami cried, leaping into the air again. "You're the best!"

They exchanged a look, Madara smothering laughter and guessing from Tobirama's expression that he was as well, then shooed their fledgling outside ahead of them. "This way." Madara said, steering Kagami onwards. "We won't have our lesson here." he added, tapping Kagami's brow lightly.

"Yes Papa!" Kagami agreed easily, keeping pace as they walked. Madara stretched his wings and his spine absently, preparing himself for the lesson and mentally reviewing every first flight he had watched or helped with. Kagami was a brilliant, bright little _featherbrain_, and he had a knack for somehow getting himself right into trouble.

Just, Madara thought with wry affection, like his Dad. He glanced at his husband and found Tobirama watching Kagami with a soft smile, answering his floods of questions with equanimity - as always - when each new spurt of them came.

Madara and Tobirama stopped without needing to consult each other, exchanging a glance, and Kagami took a few moments more to realise, turning and backtracking the few steps he had taken ahead. His wings gave a tiny flutter where they were folded against his back. "Papa? Dad?" he asked, looking around.

"All right, come here, fledge." Tobirama beckoned with a smile, arms open and wings spreading slightly.

Balking, Kagami pouted mulishly. "But you said _I_ could fly today! You _promised_!"

Tobirama blinked. Madara buffeted Kagami lightly with one wing as he spread them, knocking their fledge forwards into Tobirama, who swept him up. Kagami whined protest, unusually.

"You will, fledge." Madara said affectionately, ruffling Kagami's hair. "But it will be easier for you if we start _higher_." he said patiently.

Kagami blinked, then blushed, wriggling. "Ohhh. . . Sorry, Dad." he said, nuzzling Tobirama's jaw.

Tobirama's lips twitched as he met Madara's eyes over Kagami's head. "It's all right." he said, trailing a hand down Kagami's back between his wings. Then he leapt, with a spark of chakra flaring, and his huge wings caught the air, hauling them both quickly higher.

Madara followed suit, and they circled loosely - Madara smiled as he heard Kagami making small gleeful sounds, even if he _was_ desperate to fly for himself today - before swooping up and in to land on the edge of a small cliff face.

Kagami peered back out over the edge even as Tobirama let him slide down to his own feet. Madara gave him a moment, then-

"Fledge." Madara called pointedly, and Kagami jumped, whipping around to look at them. He beckoned, and Kagami trotted closer, listening with blessed attentiveness as they went over exactly what they expected and what he should be prepared for.

Kagami asked questions, eyed the cliff and the air, and asked to see one of them take flight in the way they expected him to try. Madara kissed his brow and smiled, then slowly did just that, careful to display every step as clearly as possible for his fledge.

He swooped lazily, looking back at his husband and their fledge, then began to come in to land at the cliff's edge again. Tobirama gestured as he spread his wings, and Madara fell back instead, dropping lower and circling slowly, watching.

Kagami fidgeted and trembled, visible even from this distance, and Madara's heart went out to his brave little fledge. He steadied under Tobirama's hands, straightening and spreading his little wings, and then nodded firmly.

Tobirama kissed the top of his head and pushed him gently, and he trotted to the edge of the cliff and leapt fearlessly off - bringing him into the spiralling warmth of the thermal pushing up along its face. Tobirama didn't bother to run for the edge himself but took off directly from where he stood, shadowing Kagami as Madara stayed low.

Kagami's wings flapped madly, with little coordination, for a few heartbeats, and Madara watched anxiously as he wobbled and . . . didn't quite _plummet_. He spread his wings wider, yelping - more surprise than pain in the sound - as the air caught in them with a soft snap, and managed to stabilise himself into somewhat shaky flight. Madara breathed easier, a grin spreading across his face as he watched his fledge take his first unsteady wingbeats into _proper flight_, bobbing and wavering back and forth unpredictably but _staying in the air_.

Madara glanced higher, to where Tobirama circled close above Kagami, keeping slightly off rather than directly overhead, and found his husband grinning as well, holding steady and quiet as they watched over his flight. Kagami knew this, and while he would have many more lessons and practises, he didn't need them to call instructions to him now - not yet.

Kagami tried a gentle curve and took it too quickly, not catching enough air in his wings to both push him through the movement _and_ keep him going forwards . . . and thus in the air. He didn't make a sound even as he started to drop, and Madara angled his flight but-

Waited, heart in his throat.

It took him a while - and a fair distance of falling - but Kagami stabilised himself again, and climbed higher once more, wings beating madly. It wasn't the most efficient method, and he'd wear himself out flying that way, but he regained roughly his former altitude.

And he'd managed his first spill without help and without panicking. Madara's chest was warm and tight with pride in his little fledge.

Kagami steadied a little as he flew, learning from experience how best to work with the air currents - the implacable forces of the pressure of the air against him and the pull of the earth below teaching him. Madara and Tobirama stayed close, but let him choose his path, flying further away from the cliff where they had begun in a wavering course, leaving behind that system of currents and thermals, turning and dipping and rising at times as he kept flying.

He began to waver more again, and Madara squinted, then let his Sharingan whirl into active life, assessing the trembles in Kagami's wings. He was wearing out - probably past. He'd never flown before and while he was good about exercising his wings, and small leaps, he didn't have the stamina and the muscle built up for flight yet.

Madara was ready when a slowly strengthening breeze made Kagami wobble, then spill into a tumble as one of his wings gave. This time he didn't wait to allow Kagami an attempt to catch himself, but intercepted him quickly, rolling to catch his fledge against his chest and then snap his wings down and forwards to arrest their momentum.

"Papa!" Kagami said, shuddering and going limp in his arms.

"Kagami," Madara said, hugging him close, careful of his loosely-held wings, "I'm so proud!" he told Kagami, kissing his brow.

Kagami squirmed, with a little happy trill, as Tobirama cut close and circled tightly above them. "I _flew_! Dad! Dad I flew!" he called up, and Tobirama's warm laugh spilled down to them. "Papa! You saw!"

"You did! You did so well!" Tobirama praised, catching Madara's eye with a soft, adoring look.

"Do we go back to the cliff to start again?" Kagami asked, giving a very restrained bounce in Madara's arms.

Madara looked at him. "No, we do not. Not today." he clarified immediately.

"But Papa-! I flew! I want to try again!" Kagami protested. "I did a good job! Dad said so! I need to practise!"

"Not on your first day." Tobirama called, shadowing Madara as he turned towards their home.

"That was a very good first try, and you need to rest before you try again." Madara said firmly, and Kagami pouted, giving a little whine as he curled up a bit tighter in Madara's arms, but went quiet otherwise.

Tobirama dropped down to match their altitude, and Madara smiled at him, shifting just enough to brush the tips of their feathers together. Tobirama's smile widened, and he sideslipped playfully across just above Madara before settling into place again at his other side.

They came in to land on the engawa almost in the same beat - it was a little trickier for Madara to perform the manoeuvre with Kagami in his arms, angling under the roof and closing his wings early enough not to run into anything, but it was a familiar difficulty.

Madara held Kagami higher and kissed his cheek, nuzzling him affectionately and wrapping his fledge up in his wings. Then he put Kagami down on his own feet, and he grinned, bouncing up immediately, wings fluttering and spreading wide.

"Papa _I flew_!" Kagami cried as he almost leapt high enough to meet Madara's eyes evenly.

"You did _such_ a good job!" Tobirama swept him into an embrace as he faltered, closing him in a wall of snowy white feathers before releasing him again.

"All on my own, Dad!" Kagami said, quivering with delight. "Why couldn't I go again?"

"Your muscles are burning, aren't they?" Madara said dryly, running his hand across Kagami's shoulder, where the muscles were tight and quivering. Kagami winced and he squeezed carefully.

"You'll already be sore," Tobirama said gently, "more than you are now," he advised, arching a brow, "and you'll need to be careful not to stiffen up. You might have been _able_ to keep flying, but if you kept going you would risk damaging your flight muscles, little one. You need to build up your stamina slowly."

Kagami pouted, but only briefly before he smiled and nodded. "I understand." he promised.

"And you _won't_ try to fly again until your next lesson, _right_?" Madara asked, touching Kagami's cheek and directing his gaze upwards.

Kagami took a deep breath and sighed heavily, rolling his eyes like Madara was being _ridiculous_. "Of _course_ not, Papa. I promise." he added, leaning close.

"Good." Madara said wryly.

"Very good." Tobirama agreed, then crouched. "Kagami. . ."

"Dad?" Kagami turned to face him with wide eyes.

"You even caught yourself from your very first tumble all by yourself!" Tobirama said brightly. "I'm _so proud_!"

Kagami bit his lip, wriggling with pleasure, and Tobirama opened his arms. Kagami threw himself into them, spilling out his thoughts about flying and what it had felt like and more questions, looking around at Madara as well.

Tobirama glanced up at Madara and they exchanged an amused, fond look. Then he rose, Kagami still in his arms, and Madara stepped closer, resting a hand on his back and keeping pace with him as he led the way inside.


End file.
